The Official Blog of Penske Transportation Solutions

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As the Memorial Day holiday is set to shift into high gear, drivers – including do-it-yourself movers – are encouraged to pack a little patience for the road.

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Reports of moving-related thefts and scams by rogue moving companies are high at this time of year, as it’s the busy moving season.

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During the Commercial Vehicle Alliance’s 2015 annual Roadcheck inspection event, out-of-service (OOS) rates for commercial vehicles and drivers dropped to record lows. As part of the safety blitz, enforcement officers conducted 69,472 total inspections, 44,989 of which were North American Standard Level 1 Inspections.

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The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has removed the majority of information on motor carriers’ Compliance, Safety, Accountability scores from public view as a result of the latest highway bill—Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act.

“As of Dec. 4, 2015, pursuant to the FAST Act of 2015, much of the information previously available on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) website related to property carrier’s compliance and safety performance will no longer be displayed publicly,” FMCSA said in a statement.

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Medical examiners will now need to begin using new forms as part of the Medical Examiner’s Certification Integration rule, and the changes to the forms will have an impact on truck drivers. What follows are several changes the rule will bring.

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The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has awarded $2.3 million in grants to 13 technical and community colleges across the country to help train veterans and their families for jobs as commercial bus and truck drivers.

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The Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Administrator Scott Darling has outlined the top five priorities he would like to see carried out by year’s end. Among the key priorities is a rule that would make electronic logging devices mandatory and a change to the agency’s CSA safety program.

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has launched an initiative to bring attention to highway-rail grade crossing safety.

Highway-rail grade crossings are intersections where a roadway crosses railroad tracks at the same level or grade. More than 250,000 of these crossings exist across the country. Trucks or tractor-trailers account for about 500 highway-rail grade crossing incidents annually– averaging about 10 per week.

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Inspectors will be out in force in early June as part of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's (CVSA) 28th annual International Roadcheck, reviewing driver information and inspecting vehicles.

The inspections will take place from June 2-4 with about 10,000 CVSA-certified local, state, provincial and federal inspectors in jurisdictions across North America performing truck and bus inspections. (Helpful tip:Download this free guide from CVSA.)

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The trucking industry continues to await a final rule on electronic onboard recording (EOBR) devices—electronic devices that attach to a vehicle and record the amount of time a vehicle is being driven—from the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Administration (FMCSA).

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The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has new authority to shut down motor carriers who display a pattern of egregious disregard for compliance with federal safety rules under a rule recently released.

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) said it is continuing to work toward an electronic on-board recorder (EOBR) rule, which was mandated in the most recent highway authorization bill, and expects to issue its initial rule in March.

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The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is reminding truck drivers and fleet operators to choose their GPS navigation systems carefully. Failing to select a GPS navigation unit designed for commercial vehicles can lead to serious safety concerns.

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As the trucking industry works to attract new drivers, federal and state legislation is making it easier for veterans and active-duty members of the military to obtain their commercial driver’s license (CDL) and become professional drivers.

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U.S. President Barack Obama signed the transportation reauthorization law, authorizing $105 billion in spending for highways and public transit over the next two years and government mandates intended to increase safety, such as mandatory electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) and the creation of a federal drug and alcohol clearinghouse.

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is in the final stages of a new rule that will require truck drivers to have their physicals conducted by only medical professionals listed on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (NRCME) - list of providers who have taken a federally mandated course and exam.

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A pilot project between the United States and Mexico that grants Mexican motor carriers the right to operate beyond the 25-mile border zone is underway, marking the next step in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) cross-border long-haul trucking provisions.

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Penske wants you to share the road safely with trucks and other large vehicles. Passenger vehicles such as cars and SUVs should know that much like their own vehicles, large trucks have blind spots. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has dubbed blind spots on large vehicles as the ”No-Zones” and every passenger driver should know them.

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued its final hours-of-service (HOS) rule, decreasing a driver’s allowable work week and altering the restart provision.

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced last month that it is retaining the 11-hour driving time limit. However, the agency imposed restrictions on the use of the 34-hour restart – to include two consecutive nighttime periods from 1 to 5 a.m. - and restricted consecutive hours of driving by including a required rest break. The FMCSA has provided a lengthy transition period until July 13, 2013 for most but not all of its changes.

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